Prenatal trace elements mixture is associated with learning deficits on a behavioral acquisition task among young children

Abstract

Children are exposed to many trace elements throughout their development. Given their ubiquity and potential to have effects on children's neurodevelopment, these exposures are a public health concern. This study sought to identify trace element mixture‐associated deficits in learning behavior using operant testing in a prospective cohort. We included 322 participants aged 6–7 years recruited in Mexico City with complete data on prenatal trace elements measurements (third trimester blood lead and manganese levels, and & urine cadmium and arsenic levels), demographic covariates, and the Incremental Repeated Acquisition (IRA), an associative learning task. Weighted quantile sum (WQS) regression models were used to estimate the joint association of the mixture of all four trace elements and IRA performance. Performance was adversely impacted by the mixture, with different elements relating to different aspects of task performance suggesting that prenatal exposure to trace element mixtures yields a broad dysregulation of learning behavior.

Mixtures of Metals and Micronutrients in Early Pregnancy and Cognition in Early and Mid-Childhood: Findings from the Project Viva Cohort

“…This study is among the first to estimate the joint effects of exposure to a mixture of nutrients in early pregnancy on child cognition in an observational setting, whereas most previous studies have focused on combined effects of neurotoxic metals. 13 , 30 , 31 Preliminary analyses regarding linearity of effects informed our parameterization of quantile g-computation models for the effect of increasing concentrations of all included nutrients simultaneously by one quartile. Such joint effects may be more informative for public health action because supplementation recommendations, such as via prenatal multivitamin tablets, typically involve multiple nutrients.…”

Associations between a metal mixture and infant negative affectivity: Effect modification by prenatal cortisol and infant sex

“…The WQS calculates a mixture index comprising the weighted sum scores of quantiled mixture components to test the association between the mixture of correlated metals and the outcome variables. Herein, we used quintiles as they better captured the variability of exposure in our sample as done in prior work (Levin‐Schwartz et al, 2022; Merced‐Nieves et al, 2022). The WQS estimates a mixture effect in one direction at a time, which is done to avoid canceling out of mixture associations in the case of competing, bidirectional mixture effects.…”

Update of the risk assessment of inorganic arsenic in food

“…prospective mother–child cohorts). Thirty‐nine further studies were not selected as they did not meet the inclusion criteria (Calderon et al., 2001 ; Cusick et al., 2018 ; de Assis Araujo et al., 2022 ; de Water et al., 2022 ; do Nascimento et al., 2015 ; Forns et al., 2014 ; Freire et al., 2018 ; Hsueh et al., 2020 ; Huang et al., 2011 ; Jiang et al., 2018 , 2022 ; Khan et al., 2012 , 2019 ; Langley et al., 2015 ; Levin‐Schwartz et al., 2019 ; Lin et al., 2013 ; Lucchini et al., 2019 ; McDermott et al., 2012 ; Merced‐Nieves et al., 2022 ; Nahar, Inaoka, & Fujimura, 2014 ; Nahar, Inaoka, Fujimura, Watanabe, et al., 2014 ; Nozadi et al., 2021 ; Nyanza et al., 2021 ; Parajuli et al., 2013 , 2014 , 2015 ; Rahman et al., 2015 ; Renzetti et al., 2021 ; Rocha‐Amador et al., 2007 ; Rodríguez‐Barranco et al., 2016 ; Saxena et al., 2022 ; Valeri et al., 2017 ; Vibol et al., 2015 ; Wang, Wang, et al., 2007 ; Wang, Liu, et al., 2018 ; Wang, Wang, & Yan, 2022 ; Wasserman et al, 2011 ; Wright et al., 2006 ). Table 20 summarises the selected studies from both the 2009 Opinion and the current evaluation.…”